


I Saved Your Life

by galaxystardust



Category: Vikings (TV)
Genre: battle but not really graphic
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-08-20
Updated: 2016-08-20
Packaged: 2018-08-09 21:52:37
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,491
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7818631
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/galaxystardust/pseuds/galaxystardust
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>This is how I imagine that Ragnar and Lagertha met, based only on the TV show and not on the sagas.</p>
            </blockquote>





	I Saved Your Life

            It was young Ragnar’s first battle. He was finally old enough to grow a beard and he was full of youthful recklessness and athleticism. He knew that he needed to keep up with the more experienced warriors without losing control and doing something stupid. Ragnar watched the more experienced warriors as they sailed. He noticed how they focused and contemplated quietly. He watched them as they made landfall and narrowed their focus to only the most necessary tasks.

Ragnar watched as they approached the battlefield. The focus narrowed and then expanded so that the senses could take in the entirety of the battlefield. Ragnar was acutely aware of all of the warriors from his village and all of the warriors they faced across the field. He didn’t actually know many of the warriors he was fighting with, especially the shield maidens, but he knew how to identify his side during the battle. He went over the battle again and again in his head. He felt himself charging and swinging his axe. He felt the splatter of warm blood and watched the warriors’ faces change like he had seen many people die before.

Ragnar imagined that he would be a great warrior in this battle and that the other warriors would celebrate with him with after their victory. Ragnar knew that this could also be his death, but he did not visualize it. He just kept his faith in Odin in his heart and reassured himself that he would be a great warrior in this battle. It felt like a hundred years standing there waiting for the battle to begin, but then out of nowhere there was a battle cry and rush. Ragnar was swept forward by the combined force of all the years of battle of all the warriors beside him. An uncontrollable boyish yelp escaped Ragnar’s throat as he attempted to join the din of the battle cries.

First the shields clashed with incredible force like a galloping horse. Then the axes and swords started to fly. Knives, sticks, spears, rocks, more axes, more swords, splinters of shields, sweat and blood everywhere. Ragnar lost his focus in the initial rush, but a very heavy blow to his shield brought him back. Ragnar hacked away at the warriors in front of him, throwing his arms and his weapons at his opponents in a somewhat more focused way but still propelled by the rush. The opponents began to fall away and the battlefield cleared a bit allowing for a better view of the action. Ragnar was able to focus on individual warriors and take them down. As he stepped in towards a target, Ragnar found himself suddenly falling to his knees. A cut to his thigh! A large warrior was at his side and the brilliant sun blinded Ragnar as he looked towards his opponent.

This was it. This was the end, Ragnar thought. The next thing I see will be Valhalla. A Valkyrie appeared before Ragnar. She was not tall. She was young and her hair was radiant. She was covered in blood and beautiful. She had the sneer of a warrior on her face and her eyes were intense but she was the most beautiful thing Ragnar had ever seen. Her scream echoed in his head.

Bliss. It was pure bliss to see such a being as a Valkyrie. She carried the same insignia as his comrades in battle. She wore the same lovingly handcrafted armor as the other warriors from his village. Her sword was very plain. NO she wasn’t a Valkyrie! She was a shield maiden and he was not dead or going to Valhalla. The shield maiden stepped forward and thrust her sword into the side just below the rib cage of this dark warrior looming over him. The large dark warrior collapsed on Ragnar. The shield maiden pulled her sword out and kicked the dying warrior off Ragnar. Stunned, Ragnar laid on the ground looking up at this radiant Valkyrie. Was he really alive? Was she real? She looked unhappy and screamed at Ragnar as she dragged him to his feet.

Ragnar was fine. He could hardly feel the pain in his leg from his injury. The woman was yelling her battle cry. Ragnar swung around, axe in hand, looking for his next opponent. The battle was going quiet. His brother was still hacking at anyone left standing while many of the opponents attempted to retreat. Ragnar triumphantly began thrusting his sword into his fallen opponents like many of the other warriors. A victory cry rose and the warriors gathered together. Ragnar realized he was limping from the large wound on his thigh. Rollo grabbed his brother around the waist to help him back to the camp. Where was the shield maiden?

Back at the camp Ragnar was still excited and feeling the rush in spite of his disabled leg. Rollo and his father were there beside him trying to get him to lie still long enough for medical care.

“And her hair was as radiant as the sun, and her battle cry echoed through all the worlds, and she thrust her sword with more strength and violence than any human possibly could and...”

“Enough Ragnar. There are many fierce shield maidens here. Battles cannot be won without them. Lay down and let them fix your leg.” Ragnar’s father said sternly. “You did well today.”

Rollo laughed. If Ragnar had not yet noticed the shield maidens maybe he was too young to be in battle. Rollo was sore from the fight but not so injured that he couldn’t go have a drink with the victorious shield maidens. Maybe he could find this woman that saved his brother’s life. Someone saved Ragnar’s life, but Rollo didn’t see whom. She must be somewhere in the camp. She was no mystical being.

Rollo approached a group of women, hoping to hear their bragging, but they all stopped when Rollo arrived. The women moved closer to each other and whispered in low voices so Rollo couldn’t hear. He moved on to a group of younger shield maidens. They were not as shy about bragging in front of a young warrior. These women were much closer to him in age and probably experience as well. They had plenty of ale.

Rollo held out his cup. The young women all laughed. One woman gestured towards the barrel of ale and none of them moved to serve him. Rollo laughed along with the women and filled his cup. The women all began bragging and teasing Rollo about how they were such great warriors. Rollo didn’t argue and played along with their bragging. One woman started making a dirty joke about a young warrior with a cut to his thigh (everyone giggles at the suggested emasculation) and how she severed the opponent’s spine with her sword and mangled the body so badly that the young warrior underneath (more giggling at sexual innuendo) couldn’t crawl out from under the body.

“That was my brother!” teased Rollo back at this shield maiden. She was very pretty and had a big mouth for bragging. She must be really fierce to speak of her prowess in such a way.

“He was bragging about your strength and skill in the medical tent. He said your battle cry echoed through all the worlds!”

“Did your brother live or did he die from his grievous wound?” she snarked back at Rollo, obviously pleased by his flattery.

“Oh it’s very serious. He might not live. Maybe if you reminded him of how pitiful a warrior he is he would finally just die already.”

“I will!” and she stood up. The woman filled her cup and filled an extra. She was genuinely curious about this young warrior, but wanted to make sure to establish her position. If nobody else brought him ale she could use her extra cup to tease him. If he already had some ale then she had an extra for herself.

As Lagertha approached the medical pavilion she noticed an old warrior laughing and trying to calm down a younger man. The younger man was delirious and would not sit still. They needed to re-bandage his leg and reapply the herbal plaster because he kept knocking it off with his excited movement. She stood a little taller and moved quietly towards the young man’s cot. The older man noticed her before the younger man.

“Aha this must be your Valkyrie!” Ragnar’s father said. He stood to give the woman his seat. Finally he could go rest and celebrate with his friends while his over enthusiastic son calmed down.

“You saved my life,” Ragnar said, in total awe that this woman was real and had returned to him.

Lagertha leaned in close, and looked Ragnar straight in the eye.

“I saved your life,” she said slowly in a low serious voice. She leaned back and took a sip of her ale.


End file.
